Traffic handling for mobile communication-based advertisements

ABSTRACT

A communications advertising system is described for delivering ad content to subscribers of a telecommunications network. The system performs traffic handling by using at least two limits for regulating message transmission. During processing, a network node of the system can continuously monitor the quantity of message traffic being processed. If the node detects that the quantity of traffic has decreased below a first limit, it can initiate the processing of reserved bulk messages. The node then continues to transmit the bulk traffic while still measuring the quantity of message traffic being processed. If, thereafter, the node detects that the quantity of overall message traffic being processed has exceeded a second limit, the processing of bulk messages is halted until the quantity of regular traffic decreases below the first limit once again, at which point the node can resume processing the bulk message traffic.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/260,798, entitled “COMMUNICATIONS MARKETING ANDADVERTISING SYSTEM AND METHOD”, by Sharath Rajasekar et al., filed onNov. 12, 2009 (Attorney Docket No. ORACL-05015U50), which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The current invention relates generally to systems for deliveringmarketing and advertisements over various forms of mobilecommunications, such as the short messaging service (SMS), and moreparticularly to managing message traffic containing such advertisements.

BACKGROUND

Online integration with various communication devices is creating newrealms for advertisers and other content providers. Marketing campaignsin the past have been mostly focused on television, radio, paper mediaand internet. Today's advertisers are seeking a more tailored andpersonalized approach. Rather than bombarding the masses with generalinterest ads, the advertisers are slowly becoming more focused onselected groups of people that have a common interest in a particularsubject, product or service. This is proving to enable both higherreturns on investment (ROI) on the part of the advertiser, as well asless annoyance and frustration on the part of the consumer.

In this context, some industry rivalries are beginning to emerge betweennetwork operators (e.g. T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, etc.) on theone hand and internet service providers (ISPs), online ad vendors andvarious other content providers on the other. While ad server vendors,such as Google, have shown a very successful business model in onlineadvertising, network operators have played a much less significant partin targeting ads. Yet network operators are uniquely and favorablypositioned in the marketplace for obtaining various information andmanaging diverse relationships between a multitude of players. Inaddition to having access to the user's preferences and data, theoperator also controls many aspects of the communication transmission inthe network. For example, the network operator owns the mobile cellularnetwork and its hardware elements (SMS-C, MMS-C, etc) as well as theinformation regarding its subscribers. As new services and productsemerge, it is desirable for network operators to manage and monetizetheir position in order to continue to be able to compete in the future.

One area of potential improvement is in this environment arises from theneed for the network operator to integrate the various targetedadvertisements with the existing message traffic, such as SMS and MMStraffic that is already flowing throughout its network. For example, itis desirable that marketing and advertising does not interfere withexisting traffic flow, does not overload the system, cause latency orcreate other potential problems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a high level architecture illustration of the mobilecommunications marketing system that can implement the traffic handlingfunctionality described throughout this disclosure.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a graph for performing the traffic handlingin accordance with various embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a network node, in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart diagram of the process for handling traffic, inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a logical flow chart diagram of the process for handlingtraffic, in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, the invention will be illustrated by wayof example and not by way of limitation in the figures of theaccompanying drawings. References to various embodiments in thisdisclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and suchreferences mean at least one. While specific implementations arediscussed, it is understood that this is done for illustrative purposesonly. A person skilled in the relevant art will recognize that othercomponents and configurations may be used without departing from thescope and spirit of the invention.

Furthermore, in certain instances, numerous specific details will be setforth to provide a thorough description of the invention. However, itwill be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention may bepracticed without these specific details. In other instances, well-knownfeatures have not been described in as much detail so as not to obscurethe invention.

In various embodiments, the traffic handling and scheduling describedherein can be used in a communications marketing and advertising systemthat allows various advertisers to create promotional advertisingcampaigns for delivery to subscribers of a communications network. Thesystem can also allow entities that would like to provide the space forthose campaigns to interact in an environment that is tightly integratedwith the telephony network over which those campaign messages flow. Inone embodiment, the system can be accessed as a Web Application over theInternet.

The system can be deployed by a network operator that owns thetelecommunications network (e.g. telephony network, cellular network,etc) and the information about its subscribers. Once deployed, thesystem can be utilized to create and deliver advertisement content byway of the message traffic flowing across the operator's network. Thesystem can support a variety of use cases for delivering this adcontent.

One such use case is bulk messaging marketing campaign with uploadedlists. This can be used when the advertiser has a list of subscribersthat it wants to send the advertising content to. For example, asoftware company that wants to notify its registered users of a newversion of its application can upload its list of user addresses to themarketing system. The software company would then select and customizean existing template and click create, whereupon the marketing systemcreates a bulk SMS campaign and sends it out to the supplied addresses.

Another use case is bulk messaging marketing campaign with subscribercategories. This can be used when the advertiser may not have anexisting list of subscribers but may still want to tailor itsadvertisements to specific groups of persons according to variouscriteria. As an illustration, a new clothing chain may want to attractwomen between ages 18-25 for delivering its ad content to. The companycan log into the marketing and advertising system and select a criteriaset defined by the network operator based on its subscriber records andsubscriber opt-in preferences. The system can then create a bulk MMScampaign using an address list it has created based on subscriberdemographics. The ad in the campaign offers the subscribers who receivethe personalized message a free scarf with their first purchase. Invarious alternative embodiments, other such use cases are possible andwell within the scope of the present invention.

As these bulk marketing campaigns are created, it can be advantageousfor the network operator to schedule the bulk messaging traffic to betransmitted gradually and in an optimized manner, so as not to overloadthe network nodes which are also processing regular SMS/MMS/WAP Pushtraffic. For example, a network operator typically sets limits on theamount of message traffic that can be processed by its nodes in order toguarantee service. If these limits are exceeded, a node may throw anexception or generate some other error indicating that the node isoverloaded and that the message could not be sent and may need to bere-tried again later. Because of these limits and the processing load onthe operator's network, it is important to ensure that a bulk messagingcampaign does not overwhelm the network nodes and interfere with theprocessing of regular SMS, MMS and WAP Push traffic being transmitted bythe subscribers. This can be achieved by implementing a traffic handlingand scheduling policy described herein.

In one embodiment, the method for traffic handling uses at least twolimits for regulating the transmission of bulk messaging traffic. Duringprocessing, a network node can periodically or continuously measure thequantity of regular message traffic being processed by the network node.If the node detects that the quantity of regular message traffic beingprocessed has decreased below the first predefined limit, it caninitiate the processing of the reserved bulk messages. The node thencontinues to process and transmit the reserved bulk messages while stillmeasuring the quantity of message traffic being processed by the networknode. If, thereafter, the node detects that the quantity of overallmessage traffic being processed has exceeded a second predefined limit,the processing of bulk messages is halted. This halting can beimplemented by either abruptly dropping any bulk messages from the nodeor by precluding the node from retrieving anymore bulk messages from thequeue, until the quantity of regular traffic decreases below the firstlimit once again, at which point the node can resume processing the bulkmessage traffic.

In effect, a buffer is created for using excess network capacity toprocess and transmit the bulk messages within a system where priority isgiven to the regular network traffic between subscribers. In variousembodiments, this form of traffic handling can enable the networkoperator (or its customers) to create a bulk advertising campaign and toschedule the campaign to be carried out over a period of time so as notto overwhelm the network.

FIG. 1 is a high level architecture illustration of the mobilecommunications marketing system that can implement the traffic handlingfunctionality described throughout this disclosure. Although thisdiagram depicts components as logically separate, such depiction ismerely for illustrative purposes. It will be apparent to those skilledin the art that the components portrayed in this figure can be combinedor divided into separate software, firmware and/or hardware.Furthermore, it will also be apparent to those skilled in the art thatsuch components, regardless of how they are combined or divided, canexecute on the same computing device or can be distributed amongdifferent computing devices connected by one or more networks or othersuitable communication means.

As illustrated, the communications marketing system 100 can be deployedby a network operator and can be exposed to external applications andportals 134 over Web Services 102. It can also be made accessible by wayof browser 136 enabled devices over ADF interfaces, UIs and the like104. Access to the marketing system can be controlled based on assigneduser roles and other security measures 106. In one embodiment, themarketing system resides at the gateway to the operator's network.

The advertising system 100 includes a set of traffic interceptors 108that can intercept message traffic between subscribers of the operator'snetwork 130 and inject various advertisements therein, as well asperform a variety of other functions. For example, an SMS interceptor110 may intercept an SMS message and transmit a response SMS with anadvertisement embedded in the response. Similarly, an MMS interceptor112 may intercept an MMS message and embed some content customized forthe receiving subscriber according to their profile. The trafficinterceptors can be applied as a chain in a particular sequence to themessages flowing through the network. Each interceptor may contain a setof filters to discern which messages it should be applied to, such thatthe interceptor is only executed for the messages containing a certaincriteria.

The core of the marketing and advertising system 100 can comprise acampaign scheduler, 114, a marketing and bidding auction place module116, an on-boarding component 118, an ad engine 120, analytics andreporting 122 and a billing component 124. All of these components canenable the operator to allow advertisers to create marketing campaignswhich will be carried out using the marketing and advertising system.These campaigns can be bulks of messaging advertisements oralternatively be tailored for individual intercepted messages accordingto the subscriber profile information. In one embodiment, the advertisercreates a campaign based on available campaign spaces. It provides thead content and, if desired, provides the subscriber lists for themarketing campaigns. The campaign is then carried out by transmittingthe appropriate ads in accordance with the traffic handling techniquesdescribed throughout this disclosure. In addition, the advertiser canmonitor its campaigns and obtain access to the statistics for them.

The campaign scheduler 114 is responsible for scheduling the advertisingcampaigns and managing their lifecycles. In one embodiment, once thecampaign is created and approved by the ad space owner, it can be givenan ACTIVE state. If it is not approved, it is placed in a REJECTEDstate. Once this is approved, the advertiser can search the list foravailable ad spaces in the marketplace and select the one appropriatefor its needs. The advertiser can bid on the selected ad space byentering the number of ad messages for which it is willing to pay for.When the bid is approved, the winning campaign can be transferred to theSCHEDULED state by the campaign scheduler 114. Thereafter, once thestart time is reached, the campaign changes to the RUNNING state andintercepted traffic has ad content placed into it. The campaign can alsobe STOPPED and DELETED.

The marketplace component 116 allows the operator to pair advertiserswith various applications that may be sending or receiving SMS/MMSmessages. Using the marketplace of the marketing and advertising system,applications can offer ad spaces and advertisers can search for openingsand bid on them. As an illustration, if a text-to-vote television showwere aired that was expected to receive a particular number of SMSvotes, a corresponding ad campaign could be created. The variousadvertisers can then submit bids for an advertising spot in the exchangeof SMS messages that would be transmitted over the network during thiscampaign. For example, an organization can submit an electronic bidoffering a particular amount for each SMS message. The network operatorcan then award the campaign to the winning bid. In this manner, theelectronic marketplace provides the network operator with means forcreating and monetizing relationships between advertisers, serviceproviders (e.g. text-to-vote application) and mobile subscribers. Basedon network availability, operators can also offer customizable bulkmessaging slots, purchased by advertisers on a fixed-price basis, withthe entire transaction enabled through the browser-based interface 136.

The ad engine 120 can be responsible for the mechanics of matching adcontent with the appropriate messaging context, whether it be ad spacesin intercepted messages from an application or bulk messages generatedby the system itself. The ad engine functions once the campaign has beeninitiated through the graphical user interface (GUI). In criteria-basedcampaigns, the ad engine is also responsible for ensuring that thesubscribers who are targeted fit the correct demographic profile asderived from the information obtained in the subscriber profile datastore 142.

The analytics, reporting and statistics engine 122 can enable monitoringthe progress of a campaign, such as the number of ads served, theongoing cost/revenue and the like both as it happens in real time andcollectively over longer periods of time. This monitoring can be used bythe advertisers, applications and operators in various ways. The systemcan display data pertinent to each user type in both detailed tables anddashboard-like charts and graphs. Reports can also be exported.

The on-boarding component 118 can allow the operator to integratevarious external partners, customers, advertisers and other entitieswith the communications marketing system 100. The on-boarding module cantake care of registering the new entity so that appropriate access canbe provided to the system from its perspective.

The billing integration module 124 can produce detailed charging datarecords (CDRs) for each ad served through the system. The CDRs can beconverted into Diameter Rf offline charging within the system and thenpassed onto billing systems such as billing and revenue management (BRM)systems for rating and billing.

Ad delivery 126 can be performed by employing the short messagingservice center (SMS-C), multimedia messaging service centers (MMS-C),Push Proxy Gateway (PPG), and other internal network components of theoperator. In one embodiment, the Marketing and Advertising System 100enables SMS, MMS and WAP Push channels for marketing campaigns; and SMS,MMS channels for Advertising. In addition, the subscriber profile module128 can be used to retrieve subscriber information and obtain a list ofpeople to be targeted with ads based on demographic information orspecific attributes about a specific person being looked up based ontheir phone number. All of this targeting of advertisements can be basedon the data that the network operator has in the subscriber store 142about each of its subscribers.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a graph for performing the traffic handlingin accordance with various embodiments of the invention. It is notedthat this graph is provided purely for purposes of illustration and thatthe particular traffic patterns shown herein are in no way intended tobe limiting the disclosure.

As previously described, a bulk advertisement campaign can be createdand scheduled using the marketing system. Once the bulk campaign is setto active, the network nodes of the operator can begin transmitting thebulk messages to the designated recipients. The traffic handling featureenables the network nodes to gracefully intersperse the bulk messagesamong the regular message traffic that they are already processing,without interfering with the regular traffic and without overwhelmingthe network.

As illustrated in the graph, the network nodes can continuously monitorthe quantity of regular traffic 206 that they are processing at anygiven time. This monitoring can be performed in time intervals (e.g.message per second, etc). Each node has a maximum limit for processingmessages that it is able to perform. If at any time, the maximum budgetis exceeded, a policy exception 200 can be thrown, or some other errormessage generated by the node. Thus at any given point in time, thedifference between the amount of traffic actually being processed by thenode and its maximum limit is referred to as the current budget 210 ortotal budget.

In one embodiment, a budget or buffer for processing the bulk messages208 can be created at the node level by setting two limits. The firstlimit can be used by the node to initiate the transmission of bulktraffic. This first limit is illustrated as the middle solid line in thefigure. When the amount of overall traffic being processed by the nodefalls below this first limit, the node begins to transmit bulk messagesfrom a queue. At the same time, the node also continues to monitor theamount of traffic being processed. This processing of bulk trafficcontinues until a second limit is reached, which is illustrated by thebroken line above the solid middle line.

When the quantity of traffic being processed exceeds the second limit,the node begins to immediately cease the processing of bulk traffic 202so as not to interfere with the node's ability to process its regulartraffic. This can be implemented by first finishing processing thecurrent message and not retrieving any more bulk messages from the queueor by immediately halting the processing of the current message.Effectively, the node capacity between the second limit and the absolutemaximum limit is the budget reserved for its regular (non-bulk) traffic204.

As further illustrated in the figure, the node can continue monitoringthe amount of traffic being processed, so that when traffic once againfalls below the first limit, the node can once again begin processingthe bulk traffic. In this manner, a more dynamic distribution of bulkprocessing is achieved, where the nodes make certain to graduallydistribute the bulk traffic in an optimal fashion, without overwhelmingnetwork traffic.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a network node, in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention. Although this diagram depicts componentsas logically separate, such depiction is merely for illustrativepurposes. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that thecomponents portrayed in this figure can be combined or divided intoseparate software, firmware and/or hardware. Furthermore, it will alsobe apparent to those skilled in the art that such components, regardlessof how they are combined or divided, can execute on the same computingdevice or can be distributed among different computing devices connectedby one or more networks or other suitable communication means.

As illustrated herein, the traffic node 300 can include a bulk client302 that is initiated by a timer to obtain the order from a campaigndatabase 310. The bulk service 304 can carry out the delivery of thebulk messages. In addition, the personalization engine 306 can usesubscriber profile data to customize the bulk messages for eachsubscriber. In one embodiment, the bulk messages can be delivered to thenetwork resources, such as an SMS-C, MMS-C, or PAP Gateway 312 using amessaging plug-in 308 that can communicate in the appropriate protocolwith the network resource.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart diagram of the process for handling traffic, inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention. Although thisfigure depicts functional steps in a particular sequence for purposes ofillustration, the process is not necessarily limited to this particularorder or steps. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the varioussteps portrayed in this figure can be changed, rearranged, performed inparallel or adapted in various ways. Furthermore, it is to be understoodthat certain steps or sequences of steps can be added to or omitted fromthis process, without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

As shown in step 400, the node can continue to measure a quantity ofmessage traffic being processed by a network node. The measurements canbe taken periodically over a particular defined period of time, such asmessages per second or the like. In step 402, the node detects that thequantity of message traffic being processed by the network node hasdecreased below a first predefined limit. In one embodiment, the firstlimit can be made configurable. In step 404, when the node determinesthat the message traffic has decreased to a low enough level, it caninitiate the processing of a set of reserved bulk messages. The node canthen continue to process the bulk traffic while measuring the overallquantity of messages being processed by the network node. In step 406,the node detects that the quantity of message traffic being processed bysaid network node has exceeded a second predefined limit. In oneembodiment, the second limit is also configurable by a user. When theoverall traffic exceeds the second limit, the node can halt theprocessing of the reserved bulk messages (step 408). In variousembodiments, the first limit can be set lower than the second limit. Inalternative embodiments, the limits can be set to be the same.

FIG. 5 is a logical flow chart diagram of the process for handlingtraffic, in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.Although this figure depicts functional steps in a particular sequencefor purposes of illustration, the process is not necessarily limited tothis particular order or steps. One skilled in the art will appreciatethat the various steps portrayed in this figure can be changed,rearranged, performed in parallel or adapted in various ways.Furthermore, it is to be understood that certain steps or sequences ofsteps can be added to or omitted from this process, without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention.

As shown in step 500, the process can begin by scheduling an ad campaignusing a campaign scheduler of the marketing communications system, aspreviously described. In step 502, once the campaign has been scheduled,each network node can continue monitoring the amount of messages that itis processing. In step 504, the node detects that the number of messageshas fallen below a first threshold limit. In step 506 then, the nodebegins (or resumes) processing the bulk messages from a queue. If sometime later, the node detects that the number of messages exceeds asecond threshold limit (step 508), it can stop the processing of bulkmessages from the queue, as shown in step 510. This process can continueuntil the end of the ad campaign has been reached (e.g. until all bulkmessages have been delivered or the campaign has been canceled).

Throughout the various contexts described in this disclosure, theembodiments of the invention further encompass computer apparatus,computing systems and machine-readable media configured to carry out theforegoing systems and methods. In addition to an embodiment consistingof specifically designed integrated circuits or other electronics, thepresent invention may be conveniently implemented using a conventionalgeneral purpose or a specialized digital computer or microprocessorprogrammed according to the teachings of the present disclosure, as willbe apparent to those skilled in the computer art.

Appropriate software coding can readily be prepared by skilledprogrammers based on the teachings of the present disclosure, as will beapparent to those skilled in the software art. The invention may also beimplemented by the preparation of application specific integratedcircuits or by interconnecting an appropriate network of conventionalcomponent circuits, as will be readily apparent to those skilled in theart.

The various embodiments include a computer program product which is astorage medium (media) having instructions stored thereon/in which canbe used to program a general purpose or specialized computingprocessor(s)/device(s) to perform any of the features presented herein.The storage medium can include, but is not limited to, one or more ofthe following: any type of physical media including floppy disks,optical discs, DVDs, CD-ROMs, microdrives, magneto-optical disks,holographic storage, ROMs, RAMs, PRAMS, EPROMs, EEPROMs, DRAMs, VRAMs,flash memory devices, magnetic or optical cards, nanosystems (includingmolecular memory ICs); paper or paper-based media; and any type of mediaor device suitable for storing instructions and/or information. Thecomputer program product can be transmitted in whole or in parts andover one or more public and/or private networks wherein the transmissionincludes instructions which can be used by one or more processors toperform any of the features presented herein. In various embodiments,the transmission may include a plurality of separate transmissions.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the presentinvention has been provided for purposes of illustration anddescription. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications andvariations can be apparent to the practitioner skilled in the art.Embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and its practical application, therebyenabling others skilled in the relevant art to understand the invention.It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by thefollowing claims and their equivalents.

1. A method for traffic handling of mobile communicationsadvertisements, said method comprising: measuring a quantity of messagetraffic being processed by a network node over a period of time;detecting that the quantity of said message traffic being processed bythe network node has decreased below a first predefined limit;initiating the processing of a set of reserved bulk messages by saidnetwork node and continuing to process said reserved bulk messages whilemeasuring the quantity of message traffic being processed by the networknode; detecting that the quantity of said message traffic beingprocessed by said network node has exceeded a second predefined limit;and halting the processing of the reserved bulk messages by said networknode.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting that thequantity of said message traffic being processed by the node has againdecreased below the first predefined limit; and resuming the processingof the reserved bulk messages by said node.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the message traffic being processed by the node includes shortmessaging service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS) traffic andWAP Push traffic wherein the reserved bulk messages include mobileadvertisements.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein processing capacity ofthe node between the first predefined limit and the second predefinedlimit is a buffer for the reserved bulk messaging traffic containingmobile advertisements.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:detecting that the quantity of traffic being processed by the node hasexceeded a maximum budget for processing message traffic by said node;and generating an error message by said node.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the set of reserved bulk messages are stored in a queue, whereinduring processing, the reserved bulk messages are retrieved by thenetwork node from the queue and transmitted to designated recipient ofeach bulk message.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereby the first limit andthe second limit enable the reserved bulk messages to be processed bythe network node while simultaneously preventing the bulk messagingtraffic from interfering with the processing of the regular messagetraffic being processed by the network node.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein each step of said method is distributed and coordinated across aplurality of network nodes connected in a cluster network.
 9. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: scheduling an advertisement campaigncontaining the set of reserved bulk messages, wherein upon activatingthe advertisement campaign, the network node begins to process the setof reserved bulk messages if the amount of traffic is below the firstlimit.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the set of reservedbulk messages is customized according to subscriber profile data of eachrecipient.
 11. A system for traffic handling of mobile communicationsadvertisements, said system comprising: one or more devices connected asnetwork nodes of a cluster network, each network node performing thesteps of: measuring a quantity of message traffic being processed by thenetwork node over a period of time; detecting that the quantity of saidmessage traffic being processed by the network node has decreased belowa first predefined limit; initiating the processing of a set of reservedbulk messages by said network node and continuing to process saidreserved bulk messages while measuring the quantity of message trafficbeing processed by the network node; detecting that the quantity of saidmessage traffic being processed by said network node has exceeded asecond predefined limit; and halting the processing of the reserved bulkmessages by said network node.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein eachof the network nodes further perform the steps of: detecting that thequantity of said message traffic being processed by the node has againdecreased below the first predefined limit; and resuming the processingof the reserved bulk messages by said node.
 13. The system of claim 11,wherein the message traffic being processed by the node includes shortmessaging service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS) traffic andWAP Push traffic, and wherein the reserved bulk messages include mobileadvertisements.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein processing capacityof the node between the first predefined limit and the second predefinedlimit is a buffer for the reserved bulk messaging traffic containingmobile advertisements.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein each of thenetwork nodes further perform the steps of: detecting that the quantityof traffic being processed by the node has exceeded a maximum budget forprocessing message traffic by said node; and generating an error messageby said node.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein the set of reservedbulk messages are stored in a queue, wherein during processing, thereserved bulk messages are retrieved by the network node from the queueand transmitted to designated recipient of each bulk message.
 17. Thesystem of claim 11, whereby the first limit and the second limit enablethe reserved bulk messages to be processed by the network node whilesimultaneously preventing the bulk messaging traffic from interferingwith the processing of the regular message traffic being processed bythe network node.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein at least one ofthe network nodes further perform the step of: scheduling anadvertisement campaign containing the set of reserved bulk messages,wherein upon activating the advertisement campaign, the network nodebegins to process the set of reserved bulk messages if the amount oftraffic is below the first limit.
 19. The system of claim 11, whereineach of the set of reserved bulk messages is customized according tosubscriber profile data of each recipient.
 20. A computer-readablestorage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions, saidinstructions, when executed by one or more processors, causing the oneor more processors to carry out the steps of: measuring a quantity ofmessage traffic being processed by a network node over a period of time;detecting that the quantity of said message traffic being processed bythe network node has decreased below a first predefined limit;initiating the processing of a set of reserved bulk messages by saidnetwork node and continuing to process said reserved bulk messages whilemeasuring the quantity of message traffic being processed by the networknode; detecting that the quantity of said message traffic beingprocessed by said network node has exceeded a second predefined limit;and halting the processing of the reserved bulk messages by said networknode.